Saturday, May 10, 2014

A Rosary for Young People ~ The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery ~ Jesus Dies on the Cross

These are the left and right hands of Jesus ~ the wounds of God reaching far, far into the world to find what God had lost. Us.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A soldier put a spear into the side of Jesus to be sure he was dead. Blood and water poured out as God's power of love poured out over a world that is often very dirty with selfishness and pride. Pride thinks, "We're the best; it's all ours."

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus never asks us to do anything that he has not done first. and so as soon as the cross was placed in the ground and everything had become very quiet, Jesus said,"Father forgive them they don't know what they are doing." Forgiveness is often very difficult, but it is a big part of following Jesus.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

When Jesus died the sun disappeared and it grew very dark. Human hearts can be dark with hatred. And so I will make this little prayer now, "Shine in our hearts, Lord Jesus!"

Hail Mary, full of grace...

And the ground shook like an earthquake and the stones cracked and broke. There are hearts as cold as ice and as hard as rock. I ask Jesus to warm and soften them.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

They took away the clothes of Jesus. He is like a champion wrestler or a boxer without his shirt. He has won the fight with dark and loveless powers. At Easter Jesus will be dressed in brightness!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

From the cross Jesus told Mary and John to take each other in as a new family. Then when he died, the body of Jesus was taken down put into the arms of his Mother. She held him with the same love she felt at Bethlehem.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Nicodemus was a secret follower of Jesus. He bought the long white cloth that was needed to wrap Jesus' body before burying him. Death does not destroy love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus was poor and didn't have his own grave, so Nicodemus gave the tomb he had made for himself and let Jesus be buried there. That was very generous, wasn't it?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The friends of Jesus buried him in a tomb like a cave that was cut out of the rock mountain. God has gone to a very deep place to find us - to all the places people hide from God's love or wait in death. But God is not a loser!

1 comment:

I am so happy to find these. They really explain what we might feel as we think about these sorrowful events. They are excellent teaching tools as they give an in-depth understanding on an age spanning level.

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Father Stephen was ordained a priest in 1979 for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York.
Before seminary he taught in New York City parochial schools. Following ordination he served as a parish priest and assumed chaplaincies to monastic sisters, a university hospital and a school-community for young people who had lost their life-direction. He currently resides at Christ of the Hills Retreat House in Pennsylvania. He has written and self-published "There is no problem..." a book of rosary meditations and The Way of the Cross, My Way of Life, a six week series of meditations on the traditional Stations of the Cross.